With paint-covered forearms and sweaty brows, a trio of artists from Olds stormed a stage at Red Deer's Festival Hall on July 4 to take on nine other artists in the regional Art Battle competition.
With paint-covered forearms and sweaty brows, a trio of artists from Olds stormed a stage at Red Deer's Festival Hall on July 4 to take on nine other artists in the regional Art Battle competition.
After coming out on top at the first-ever Art Battle in Olds on May 10, Cindy Boffey, Amy Braun and Jim Brown competed against artists from Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton at the Red Deer battle for a shot at moving on to the national competition in Toronto on July 26.
Braun and Brown were part of a phalanx of six artists in the first round, where each artist had a blank canvas on an easel and 20 minutes on the clock to paint a masterpiece using acrylic paint while a crowd of roughly 200 people cheered them on.
Braun painted a deer sporting a labyrinth of horns set against a green and purple background while Brown painted a raven against a haunting blue backdrop.
At the end of the round, the crowd voted on their favourite pieces and Brown and Belinda Fireman from Calgary received the most votes to go on to the final round.
In the second round, Boffey painted a tree that seemed to be born of fire and she and Marianne Harris of Red Deer received enough votes from the audience to enter the final round.
With four painters on stage and another 20 minutes on the clock, another frantic session of painting erupted in the third and final round.
Boffey crafted a bright and brilliant sunflower while Brown detailed a raging storm.
In the end, Harris, who had painted a landscape of green and brown with orange highlights, captured the most votes and earned the ticket to battle 19 other artists from across the country at the Toronto competition.
Despite not making it past the first round, Braun said she was proud to take part in a competition where she had the opportunity to stand side-by-side with other talented artists from across the province.
"It's such a beautiful way to watch artists evolve in a matter of 20 minutes and you can only imagine what they've accomplished in their entire art career," she said.
Boffey, who admitted she was out of her comfort zone using acrylic paints since she normally paints with water colours, said having to create a piece of art on stage in a short time period isn't as frightening as it sounds since the crowd "energizes" the artists.
Brown added it didn't take him long to find his rhythm on stage.
"All your apprehensions and nervousness, for me personally, is before you get up on stage. Once you're up on stage and you get going and the more it develops through the painting, you're totally relaxed because you are in your element," he said. "This is something every artist should try at one time or another."
Olds High School art teacher Renu Mathew, who won the Olds competition, was not able to attend the regional event as she was out of the country.
Following every round of the Red Deer battle, the works of each artist were put up for auction with 50 per cent of the proceeds going to the artist.
This is Art Battle's fifth year with more than 100 events taking place in 27 cities throughout Canada.
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